I bought the Care Touch Blood Glucose Meter this past July. I bought it because I was looking for an affordable meter with cheap test strips. The expensive part of frequent glucose testing is the cost of the test strips. Test strips are one time use only, so you need to continually buy them. The meters themselves are often very cheap. It’s like buying a printer. The manufacturer makes all of their money on the ink.
Test strips are the ink of the diabetes supplies world.
I was delightfully pleased with this meter, and now after 5 months of continual use, let me tell you why.
Works with a small droplet
To my surprise, it requires less blood that my last meter, which was the Bayer Contour Next USB Meter. Less blood makes testing easier. For this meter, I’m able to get the required droplet of blood very easily, as it doesn’t take much.
Seems accurate
I was a bit concerned about accuracy, because I was switching from a well known brand to what I saw as a generic. Well, I compared the readings between my Bayer and this one, and they were very close. The meter seems to be correct.
Good price
At about $20 for 100 strips, these cost less than my insurance copay. I buy them on Amazon. As a prime member, I enjoy their quick and free 2 day shipping. It’s super easy to re-order and while I’d always like to pay less, these prices are pretty good.
Quiet & Quick
This may seem unimportant, but it doesn’t have a loud beep. Some glucose meters go BEEEEEEP! I don’t like this unnecessary sound.
No such issue with this quiet meter! This enables me to test my glucose without drawing attention to myself. Like other meters, it displays the result after just a few seconds.
Buy extra meters
I have a “be prepared” mindset as well as the belief that “you don’t know if you don’t test” so I have bought several of these meters. I keep one in my purse and the other in the kitchen. I really can’t treat myself correctly if I don’t know my blood glucose level. Therefore, for emergency preparedness, I think it’s good to have extra meters and other supplies. Don’t count on your meter to keep working well forever — buy an extra one!
What could be better
No product is ever perfect. The main design flaw with this meter is that it’s actually possible to put the test strip in backwards. The unit won’t turn on if you do that, so it’s easy to figure out the correct way. But, my previous meter had strips that could only be inserted into the meter in one direction, which prevented any possible confusion.